Once again I've been looking at other trainsim sites just to see what's happening there with MSTS. I note that there is an abundance of Indian railway routes and stock available as freeware on trainsim[dot]com. I was wondering whether anyone has downloaded any of these and if so are they able to comment on them? They would obviously give an opportunity to experience alternative railways.

Last edited by rufuskins on Fri 31 Oct 2014, 8:54 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Changed topic title to expand the topic!)

I have not been on there for while now to see what's new, but I have downloaded some Indian routes and stock in the past, for the most part they are excellent and well worth downloading if you want a change.

If you are looking for some high quality alternative MSTS content, you might like this too..........

The Russians are very meticulous with their attention to detail in their MSTS content, some of the innovations that we now take for granted originated with the Russian and Eastern European content creators.

If you like Narrow gauge, the "Industrial Community" route is excellent, any Russian/European 750mm gauge stock will run on it. As for the others, just read the description to see which ones appeal to you, they are all good, I was running "Route PermII-Kungur-Palniki" earlier, that one is a well detailed route. a lot of the other Russian routes I have are no longer listed, I haven't got the latest 3 routes yet, I'll have to download them now I'm back up and running again.

There are some good South African route too over on Train.com, but unless you have a subscription, downloading any can take a long time as you are limited to the number of downloads you can have per day. As with some of the American routes, they have large files and some as many as a dozen are required for each whole route.I have a number of American routes stored on CD's and several of the pay ware routes, Feather River being one of them, which I purchased when it first came out. I don't use them much these days, but they all add to my collection of MSTS material and they are there if I decide to run them for a change.

Geoff STEAM will ALWAYS be King! It gave us our Great British railway network, which we all enjoy through simulation

GeoffI've been downloading some US routes, and in particular the Pentecosta (Petite Arbre) route which whilst fictional has it's own stock and there are also some activities.I wasn't aware that there was a download limit on Trainsim[dot]com, although not being a premium member means the downloads can take quite a while! I've managed to download all of the stuff associated with Pentecosta but not installed any. However I will look at the SA routes. I also intend to look out for European routes. Australian routes are already downloaded and in the case of Brian's recent NSW NW route installed and a little exploration carried out. Definitely one to be recommended.I want to have some alternatives for when I spend more time driving.

There are a few acts floating around, there may be some acts for "the General" (Old US wild west style loco) I have seen screenshots of it being used on there, I normally do my own acts for Seaview as not all available acts work on v5.

Sorry to go off topic (Indian Railway Routes) I already have Pentacosta Alec and all the stock to go with it and it is a very big route. one of my favourite American routes is Moffat Tunnel Route V5, which has some really wild scenery in parts. Try running a Big Boy over the old Rollins Pass, loaded with about fifty loaded coal wagons, instead of taking the much shorter Moffat Tunnel route. It is quite a climb to the summit at Corona, but you will need your brakes on the decent. Then carry on to the end of the route with some more spectacular scenery. Those Big Boys & Challengers are really enjoyable to drive, especially double headed with over 100 wagon loads. Just watch them snake up Rollins Pass, quite spectacular.All these routes already mentioned are worth having, as an alternative to running British routes and they don't take much space up if you have them stored on CD/DVD or even External Hard Drive. I even have a copy of MSTS & Trainstore on my external hardrive, just for running Amercan and other foreign routes. I just plug it in if I need it.

Geoff STEAM will ALWAYS be King! It gave us our Great British railway network, which we all enjoy through simulation

In order to avoid a day with no posting, I'll just mention that between shopping with SWMBO I've downloaded a number of US routes. Decided against adding premium membership of Trainsim, and to accept the download speeds for non-membership.

Yes you are right, there is no download limit for non subscribtion on Trainsim.com. As I stated, I already had the Pentecosta (Petit Arbre) route, but mine was V3. I have noticed that it has now been upgraded to V4.1 and the file is for one big download.So I decided to download it which took me five hours. I already have the stock and activity file which come as separate downloads. I don't think there are any new stock items, but the route just keeps getting larger. I had a quick run on part of it last night, in the area around Nienke. This part of the route has some pretty long winding gradients, on spirals, through tunnels and over some pretty spectacular bridges. The scenery is also quite enjoyable and there is plenty of static stock placed around station yards, which if running just your player train, adds to the enjoyment. So on the whole, this looks like a route to go exploring again. I have never tried any of the activities, but there seems to be plenty of them. I think I will set this route up as a Mini Route, as there are quite a lot of items required in the train set and consist folders.

I might decide to download the latest Seaview Route, but as this is just a fantasy route, I don't think I will run it too often. I am just curious to see what it has to offer that's all.Taking a look at some of the Indian Routes too, as some of these seem quite interesting. Is there any end to this age old sim?You can always seem to be adding to it, without having to spend anything, that's the beauty of it. Who needs the other sim!

Geoff STEAM will ALWAYS be King! It gave us our Great British railway network, which we all enjoy through simulation

Hi everyone.Does anyone know if there are any MSTS New Zealand routes available out there please?

I have also recently downloaded the Australian short South route covering 107 miles from Sydney to Wallerawang and 140 miles from Sydney to Golburn.It is an excellent route set in the 1950's-60's era.However there does not appear to be any activities so I have no idea of how trains were formed or where they actually went to especially in the Sydney suburbs.I have downloaded quite a lot of NSWGR Loco's and rolling stock, any advice most appreciated.CheersAndy

Andy Moody (AKA AJ52MDY on the UKTS site) West Moors, Dorset on the "Old Road" closed September 1964

Yes there are four New Zealand routes over on Trainsim.com You need to register to download anything. Log on then click on File Library at top of page, Choose Advanced Search, then type in New Zealand Routes, click on Search at bottom of page and you should get four pages of New Zealand Routes.There is a Spiral Route, Northrail, Southrail and Tallihari Independent Mining Company (I think)You might have to look through the Loco Files from the main trainsim list to find New Zealand locos and stock, but there are some available.Hope you find what you are looking for Andy.

Geoff STEAM will ALWAYS be King! It gave us our Great British railway network, which we all enjoy through simulation

Thanks for that Geoff and Mark.I was not actually aware that there was any New Zealand stuff around!Now have routes downloaded, Rather "Worrying? message though "....is not commonly downloaded and could be dangerous" message with the option todiscard or open. I chose the latter, assuming that not many people download from that site these days!Anyway, I have South rail, North Rail Raurimu incline and spiral Routes downloaded, plus various Locos/Stock.CheersAndy

Andy Moody (AKA AJ52MDY on the UKTS site) West Moors, Dorset on the "Old Road" closed September 1964

andrew moody wrote:Hi everyone.............................................................I have also recently downloaded the Australian short South route covering 107 miles from Sydney to Wallerawang and 140 miles from Sydney to Golburn. It is an excellent route set in the 1950's-60's era.However there does not appear to be any activities so I have no idea of how trains were formed or where they actually went to especially in the Sydney suburbs.

I have downloaded quite a lot of NSWGR Loco's and rolling stock, any advice most appreciated.........................Andy

Hello Andy,

Unfortunately, most Australian routes do NOT come with activities - for two reasons :

1. There are NO Australian activity writers in the Australian MSTS world - some authors do include a sample activity just for an Explore type run.

2. Australian rolling stock is hosted over several MSTS websites, some of which have restrictions - also there are several Payware packs from Team-Alco. The logistics of trying to setup a good Trainset with realistic Consists to go with a route is nearly impossible, especially when the Payware stock is so essential to a realistic representation of NSWGR, and they have no freeware equivalents.

My skills lye in route building, structure building and rolling stock building- I don't have the skills nor the time to make activities at this stage - once I've exhausted all the NSWGR routes that I want to build, then maybe I might have a go at Activities.

In my routes I include a lot of prototype information in a folder called Activity Support Information to try and encourage others to have a go at activity writing - in here you will find details of NSWGR passenger train workings and formations, NSWGR goods train workings and an extensively detailed route guide. Also I provide a full set of 'typical' Paths from point A to point B and return for typical passenger and goods workings based on authentic NSWGR workings and thousands of historic NSWGR photographs

As far as stock goes, there are three main download sites:

1. My own Short North site at http://shortnorth.steam4me.net/This covers a very wide range of NSWGR stock that I got sick of waiting for someone to build - so I built it myself.

3. Steam4me http://msts.steam4me.net/There is some NSWGR stock on this site, but it also covers the 'other' Australian railways

I still have three routes under development, but once I'm free of them, I'm thinking of assembling a comprehensive set of Consists, using only stock from my site and the CTN site, that can then be used on any of the NSWGR routes. If I get to the stage of making activities, then everything would be in accordance with standard NSWGR practice of the 50's and 60's - I grew up with this stuff, so it's in my blood.

Regards, Brian Bere-Streeter

"Any railway that paints their locomotives such a magnificent shade of red, must be the most superior in the land" (apologies to the late David Jenkinson).

On the suject of New Zealand routes, I have permission to distribute several of them. I used to send these out on CD but now could do so using Hightail, as I did for the KWVR.

The routes are authored by either Trevor Burt or Neville Brook (the latter being the author of the Making Tracks fantastic Evesham Branch route).

All routes and stock have been gone over with a fine tooth comb by me and should be error free. (Some of the other download versions aren't error free - especially some of the stock.) They all come with the appropriate activities and stock. They are:

Thanks very much for your replies, I am very impressed with the NSWGR Short South Route out of Sydney, Brian, Its extremely well done especially the scenery.and will come in very useful for my short stay there next March/April.I have also read your uncle Charlie's stories, As a recently retired member of traincrew (I was a guard for just over 40 years) I can easily relate to them!I take it that when he tells of an incident with Loco 6029, this is the same Beyer Garrett that has recently been restored to main line condition?

At the moment I am sorting out locos and stock for all the New Zealand routes I have. A couple of issues though, North Rail Route does not unzip.the file is emptyand reads "The file C:\1MSTS Northrail is not a valid file and cannot be upgraded. As this is the route with the most stock and activities is there any way of overcoming this problem.There is also a missing consist called yard one player, If anyone can tell me the contents of the consist, I can use ConBuilder to easily make it.Am Currently still downloading Diesels and stock so keeping me busy. but looking forward to exploring the various routes.CheersAndy

Andy Moody (AKA AJ52MDY on the UKTS site) West Moors, Dorset on the "Old Road" closed September 1964

I downloaded all the NZ routes that you sent me Bob, last night. It took about four hours to download them all, but I now have them all safely stored on my external harddrive. Maybe Andrew got his download of Northrail from trainsim.com, as the download links you sent me by email are all valid files.Once again Bob. thank you for letting me have them.

Geoff STEAM will ALWAYS be King! It gave us our Great British railway network, which we all enjoy through simulation

steamnut44 wrote:I downloaded all the NZ routes that you sent me Bob, last night. It took about four hours to download them all, but I now have them all safely stored on my external harddrive. Maybe Andrew got his download of Northrail from trainsim.com, as the download links you sent me by email are all valid files.Once again Bob. thank you for letting me have them.

Hi Geoff/Bob.Yes, it is the Train Sim New Zealand site TSNZ , I have installed y tracks, thought that might be the cause of the problem, but it is not.Have had another go at Downloading Northrail, everything else works, its 970MB. But still cannot extract the route from the zip file.I know how to reply to an incoming PM but have no idea how to create one on this site!Any help very much appreciated.CheersAndy

Andy Moody (AKA AJ52MDY on the UKTS site) West Moors, Dorset on the "Old Road" closed September 1964

To send a PM to someone, look under their Username on one of their posts, you will see a PM button, click on this and it will open the page to type your message. Then just click send and your PM will be sent to them

Geoff STEAM will ALWAYS be King! It gave us our Great British railway network, which we all enjoy through simulation

To send a PM to someone, look under their Username on one of their posts, you will see a PM button, click on this and it will open the page to type your message. Then just click send and your PM will be sent to them

Yes.of course! Right under my nose!, Thanks for that Geoff.Bob you have a PM.CheersAndy

Andy Moody (AKA AJ52MDY on the UKTS site) West Moors, Dorset on the "Old Road" closed September 1964

Well its many thanks to Bob Latimer,I have installed all the NZ Routes and am happy with the way they work,though so far I have failed dismally to get to the Summit on the Cog railway.But going up from the other side in the Baldwin has been great fun

.

So tomorrow its another attempt from the cog side.

Last edited by neanderthal on Fri 07 Nov 2014, 9:55 pm; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : Worried that I have put them in wrong Topic.)

andrew moody wrote:.................I am very impressed with the NSWGR Short South Route out of Sydney, Brian, Its extremely well done especially the scenery. and will come in very useful for my short stay there next March/April..................................I have also read your uncle Charlie's stories,.......................................I take it that when he tells of an incident with Loco 6029, this is the same Beyer Garrett that has recently been restored to main line condition?..........................Cheers Andy

I don't know how useful the SW+SS route will be for your visit next year - all the current rolling stock is quite different, today's track layouts bear no similarity to those of the 50's, and all the railway infrastructure has changed - maybe if you're lucky you might find 5% still in place scattered all over the system - even some of the 50's stations have closed!

And, yes, it is the same 6029 - do a search on U-Tube and you'll find several nice videos of 6029 on its recent test runs - also search the name BWDVD and you'll find some NSWGR steam including the famed 38's.

One of the great tragedies here at the moment is that the stupid authorities (State and Local Govt) are ripping the heavy rail out of the centre of Newcastle - it will be closed on Boxing day. This weekend and next, Laughlan Valley Railway are running a couple of last steam specials into Newcastle for the last time using a 32 and a 59. The tragedy is that we have two nice preserved 38's, and they were the mainstay of Newcastle express services for over 25 years, but at the moment BOTH are out of service - it would have been most fitting if 3801 and 3830 could have taken the last ever train out of Newcastle terminus. Unfortunately, I'm over 850 klms away and can't attend, but I did at least travel behind 3801 and 3830 during the 150th celebrations in 2005.

Regards, Brian

"Any railway that paints their locomotives such a magnificent shade of red, must be the most superior in the land" (apologies to the late David Jenkinson).

First of all, I want to say a BIG THANKYOU to Bob Latimer for sending me the files and as a result I nearly now have North Rail up and running.I say nearly, Because on attempting to open the Northrail route, I was bombarded with loads of "Failed to open shape files error messages all beginning with the letter Y.Hmmmm Interesting, Y......Ah yes Ytracks.I take it that the folder does not live in the main Global folder but should be extracted into the shapes folder?Will give it a try, If it does not work he last previous file is Yardmarker ace.But once again thankyou Bob very much.Also it is nice to see that it has generated quite a bit of interest as well!CheersAndy

Andy Moody (AKA AJ52MDY on the UKTS site) West Moors, Dorset on the "Old Road" closed September 1964

Not sure what you have done but once you unzip all five zips into a temporary folder you will have Global, Route, Sound and Trains folders plus the instructions. You then should have, following the instructions, moved those four folders into your Train Simulator folder.

Inside the Global folder is a shapes folder which contains all of the Y-Tracks shapes. Check in the Global\Shapes folder for Y1t190-1-9_12mDiv.s and Y1tSglSlip190Xover_.s Those are just two of the 27 YTracks shapes.

Is the error message really "failed to open" or is it "failed to find"?

Not sure what you have done but once you unzip all five zips into a temporary folder you will have Global, Route, Sound and Trains folders plus the instructions. You then should have, following the instructions, moved those four folders into your Train Simulator folder.

Inside the Global folder is a shapes folder which contains all of the Y-Tracks shapes. Check in the Global\Shapes folder for Y1t190-1-9_12mDiv.s and Y1tSglSlip190Xover_.s Those are just two of the 27 YTracks shapes.

Is the error message really "failed to open" or is it "failed to find"?

What tsection.dat are you using?

Bob.

Just to confirm that Northrail now runs Ok, Y tracks ARE were they are supposed to be!!!! The T section is the latest one 42UK.Just taken a BNSF GP38 (re-gauged?) from Wanganui to Armoho on a exploration run.Must look out for one of those whilst I am over here, are there any preserved. Hmmm Perhaps not, Think I stand more chance of finding a South African GMAM Beyer Garrett!!!!Yes, North rail is another great route very well built.CheersAndy

Andy Moody (AKA AJ52MDY on the UKTS site) West Moors, Dorset on the "Old Road" closed September 1964

ShortNorth wrote:I don't know how useful the SW+SS route will be for your visit next year - all the current rolling stock is quite different, today's track layouts bear no similarity to those of the 50's, and all the railway infrastructure has changed - maybe if you're lucky you might find 5% still in place scattered all over the system - even some of the 50's stations have closed!

One of the great tragedies here at the moment is that the stupid authorities (State and Local Govt) are ripping the heavy rail out of the centre of Newcastle - it will be closed on Boxing day. This weekend and next, Laughlan Valley Railway are running a couple of last steam specials into Newcastle for the last time using a 32 and a 59. The tragedy is that we have two nice preserved 38's, and they were the mainstay of Newcastle express services for over 25 years, but at the moment BOTH are out of service - it would have been most fitting if 3801 and 3830 could have taken the last ever train out of Newcastle terminus. Unfortunately, I'm over 850 klms away and can't attend, but I did at least travel behind 3801 and 3830 during the 150th celebrations in 2005.

Regards, Brian

Hi Brian.I picked up the bit about Newcastle on one of the UK railway sites I read, Absolutely bonkers! I was hoping to go there for a day but looks like I wont make it now.unless there is a last minute reprieve! Might try a day trip to Canberra instead, and try and locate the railway museum there.Yes I bet that the railway system around Sydney has like everywhere else been reduced and land sold off.I am looking to be able to photograph some freight trains to and from Botany, Is Flemington any good?CheersAndy

Andy Moody (AKA AJ52MDY on the UKTS site) West Moors, Dorset on the "Old Road" closed September 1964

andrew moody wrote:..................................Might try a day trip to Canberra instead, and try and locate the railway museum there.Yes I bet that the railway system around Sydney has like everywhere else been reduced and land sold off.I am looking to be able to photograph some freight trains to and from Botany, Is Flemington any good? Cheers Andy

Not sure about Flemington, all the goods sidings (stockyard and related industries all gone) probably all you'll see are suburban electrics with the occasional passing South or West XPT and a couple of odd freights coming out of what is left of Enfield.

The Canberra trip is a nice run, and if you want another nice scenic run try a trip from Sydney to Nowra down the Illawarra line. If you do decide to do this, have a run on my Main Illawarra V3 first, to see what it looked like in the 50's/60's, and compare it to today's line.

Regards, Brian

"Any railway that paints their locomotives such a magnificent shade of red, must be the most superior in the land" (apologies to the late David Jenkinson).

ShortNorth wrote:The Canberra trip is a nice run, and if you want another nice scenic run try a trip from Sydney to Nowra down the Illawarra line. If you do decide to do this, have a run on my Main Illawarra V3 first, to see what it looked like in the 50's/60's, and compare it to today's line.

Regards, Brian

Hello everyone.have spent quite some time today attempting to install the AU_NSW_MI3 Route but without sucsess.Despite having all four platform kits installed in the main global folder I am not being allowed to install

The error message reads:-

NSW Main Illawarra (Sydney-Nowra) v3 has not been totally installed because of the following reason

GLOBAL\SHAPES\ashphaltplat10mend.s This file contains invalid dataYou have to run this utillity again to completly install NSW Main Illawarra (Sydney-Nowra)v3

This is UKTS 1211 platform kit 1V which I have redownkoaded and copied the files into my main Global Shapes folder, all four of the ace files are also present in the textures folder but despite reinstalling them all. I am still unable to openAU NSW M13 to install.Any help much appreciated.CheersAndy

Andy Moody (AKA AJ52MDY on the UKTS site) West Moors, Dorset on the "Old Road" closed September 1964

Use a Unicode-aware editor such as WordPad, ConText, or, if you're running Vista or later, NotePad.

Cheers,Ged

Hi Ged.I have windows 7, I would need to create a file association to open these files and quite honestly I do not have a clue what to do.Looks like I will have to "Pass" on this one then. Thanks anyway.CheersAndy

Andy Moody (AKA AJ52MDY on the UKTS site) West Moors, Dorset on the "Old Road" closed September 1964

Hi Andy,It is very straight forward to set NotePad to open this file type :1. Right click on the .sd file2. Move the cursor to the Open with... entry3. Scroll down to "Choose default program..."4. At the "Open with" screen NotePad might be shown under Recommended Programs5. If not, left click on the + sign on the "Other Programs" line then scroll down to NotePad6. From 3 or 4, left click on NotePad then left click on the OK button7. The file will now open up in NotePad and, what's more important, every .sd file will be opened with NotePad.

You can do the same procedure for any of the MSTS Unicode files - eng, wag, act, trf, pat, etc.

BUT, don't forget to make a copy of the file before you try to change it, then if it all goes wrong, you haven't lost anything, except a few minutes.

Thanks Ged.I was able to amend the SD file by opening with the freeview file which lead to notepad thus amending the figures from two zero to one zero.Sadly it has not made a scrap of difference, still getting the same error message.CheersAndy

Andy Moody (AKA AJ52MDY on the UKTS site) West Moors, Dorset on the "Old Road" closed September 1964

Hi Andy,I don't understand "freeview" file!! If this is not a Unicode aware editor (or whatever it is) then it may have passed the file to NotePad as an ASCII file, which is not recognised by MSTS.Please follow my instructions EXACTLY and please don't use the file you've just created. Delete your new file and copy your original sd file back from your backup and start again.

My Main Illawarra V3 has been around for nearly six (6) years - when Yuri makes an installer they are literally bulletproof; they are only released after extensive testing on different PC's and software versions. Many hundred copies of the route have been successfully downloaded and installed without problem - no-one, to my knowledge, has reported this problem before.

For the great bulk of the route I made custom platforms; as I can remember it, the only section using the original platform kits is the section at the Sydney end where several tiles are copied from Coals to Newcastle

If you read Yuri's install process, there is no specific mention of having to download the platform kits, as the necessary new platform bits are included in the download. So, can I suggest you try to re-install using Yuri's notes, exactly as he instructs.

slipperman12 wrote:Hi Andy,I don't understand "freeview" file!! If this is not a Unicode aware editor (or whatever it is) then it may have passed the file to NotePad as an ASCII file, which is not recognised by MSTS.Please follow my instructions EXACTLY and please don't use the file you've just created. Delete your new file and copy your original sd file back from your backup and start again.

Cheers,Ged

Hi GedI am unable to open the main OPEN WITH file as nothing happens.at all, instead this error message.This file does not have a Program associated with it for performing this action. Please install a program or if one is already installed,create an association in the Default Programs control panel.Instead, all of the files that I assume should be in the OPEN WITH section are in this Open with freeview folder.I have no clue whatsoever as to why this has happened, It's certainly nothing that I have done.I do not know what an ASC11 file is or how to change it or for that matter what a unicode aware editor is.What do I do?I have to say that I find this windows 7 a total nightmare, if I am not busy "Resolving Hosts" then train simulator or somthing else has stopped workingWindows are searching for a solution.......I never had all this nonsence with XP.Dont know if you can help me, or do I need to go back to the shop.CheersAndy(Assuming windows will let me post this.....The second attempt today.)

Andy Moody (AKA AJ52MDY on the UKTS site) West Moors, Dorset on the "Old Road" closed September 1964

Below is a short tutorial on how to set file associations in windows 7, in this case it is a .sd file but it is the same for many MSTS files. (please note that shape files and ace files cannot be edited in a text editor, you will need to use a dedicated program to open these files)

Hi Mark,No, I cannot even get that screen up on the OPEN WITH section, There is absolutely nothing showing!It for some reason has been (and not by me!) transferred to this Open with free viewer thing.I have already amended the Ashphalt SD file in my main Global shapes folder,it does not work and Gedsuggested that it was a ASC11 file which MSTS does not recognise.So I am completly stuck.But thanks anywayCheersAndy

Andy Moody (AKA AJ52MDY on the UKTS site) West Moors, Dorset on the "Old Road" closed September 1964